The women's basketball program has released their schedule for the 2009-2010 season today. The Golden Flashes will travel to Hawaii for a two game trip on December 29-30. Conference play will start on January 6 when the Ohio Bobcats come to Kent.

The men's basketball team ended up 3-1 in Italy with an 80-89 loss to Fulgor Omegna on Friday. “The trip overall was a major positive for our team from a chemistry standpoint,” said Head Coach Geno Ford. “It really continued to emphasize our needed attention to a few areas such as free throw shooting and collective defensive toughness. We will be able to take some major steps forward from the trip.”

Todd Vatter, Kent State men's basketball SID checks in today with an update on how the trip to Italy has been going. The team will take on Fulgor Omegna tonight.

"The trip has been flying by and long all at the same time. We have already seen so much in our time here. We are heading towards Lake Como this morning for the final game tonight. The competition has been solid and challenged the team in many different aspects. No doubt the highlight play thus far was the tip dunk by Brandon Parks that helped seal the game the other night. The team's defense has continued to improve each time out and has really locked down in the second half of the past couple of games. The offensive has been well balanced with plenty of ball movement. We had the opportunity to tour the streets and sidewalks of Venice yesterday which was just an experience in itself. It is truly one of the most iconic cities in the world."

The Daily Kent Stater came out with their fall sports preview today. The football preview includes comments from Doug Martin, Eugene Jarvis and Brian Lainhart.

Yesterday Doug Martin introduced the four captains for the 2009 season. Offensively, senior Eugene Jarvis and sophomore Giorgio Morgan were named while defensively junior Cobrani Mixon and junior Brian Lainhart were named captains.

The Kent State men's basketball team defeated Virtus Siena 95-79 on Monday evening. Senior guard Mike McKee led Kent State with 22 points while Chris Singletary had 16 points and 5 assists. The Golden Flashes will play Fulgor of the Italian B-1 League on Wednesday night.

The Kent State men's basketball team won their first game in Italy on Sunday 83-76 over Basket Scauri. Senior guard Tyree Evans led the way with 26 points and five three pointers. Sophomore big man Justin Greene was a perfect 6-6 from the field and finished with 13 points. Junior guard Rod Sherman had 17 points in his first action since the 2008 NCAA Tournament. The Golden Flashes head to Northern Italy tomorrow to take on Virtus Siena of the Italian B-1 League.

Kent State men's basketball SID Todd Vatter checked in with me today on how the trip is going:

Senior sharp shooter Mike McKee checks in on the first couple days in Italy. The team spent time touring the Colosseum and going to Vatican City. A photo gallery can also be found at the Kent State Athletics website.

The Kent State football team had their second scrimmage of training camp last night at Dix Stadium. As Dave Carducci reports, the offensive line struggled and is missing center Chris Anzevino who is out with an infection in his foot. Anzevino could be on the field by the end of the week. With the offensive line playing especially poor in the running game, Eugene Jarvis only managed 17 yards on 8 carries and Andre Flowers had 9 yards on 6 carries. With pressure in his face, Giorgio Morgan went 9-21 for 80 yards during the scrimmage.

Kent State senior running back Eugene Jarvis figures to be the focal point of the Golden Flashes this year. The Pittsburgh native needs only 722 yards to become the program's all time leading rusher. At 5-5, 170 pounds he has always been told he would never succeed on the gridiron. Jarvis continues to prove people wrong. USA Today features Jarvis here.

The Kent State football team had their first scrimmage of summer camp on Saturday afternoon at Dix Stadium.

As expected, Giorgio Morgan was named the starting quarterback for the season opener on September 3 vs. Coastal Carolina. Highlights from the scrimmage include freshman place kicker Freddy Cortez going 5 for 5 on field goal attempts (30,29, 39, 29,31) and 4 for 4 on extra points. Special teams also got a good performance from Darius Polk with a 95 yard kickoff return to begin the scrimmage. Morgan went 12-25 for 87 yards against a lot of pressure from the KSU defense. Freshman receiver Tyshon Goode had 8 catches for 90 yards and a touchdown. Freshman quarterback Spencer Keith continues to impress. "I really like what Spencer did," Doug Martin said. "Now take into consideration he didn't get blitzed hardly at all and that second group was much different than the first group as far as what they are seeing. He's got a great grasp of the offense. He's very, very bright and he's really accurate." Will Johnson and Dorian Wood each had eight tackles on defense while freshman Luke Batton returned an interception for a touchdown. Morgan was the victim of several dropped passes. Three were from H-Back Jameson Konz. Coach Doug Martin said Konz would drop on the depth chart until he can hold on to the football. Kent State will have their second scrimmage on Wednesday.

Former Kent State quarterback Julian Edelman wasted little time making an impression in the NFL. In New England's first preseason game on Thursday night in Philadelphia, Edelman returned a punt 75 yards for a second quarter touchdown. The play was #5 on ESPN's SportsCenter. He also had five catches for 37 yards, including catching the first pass from QB Tom Brady as he returned from injury. The pass was in fact completed to Edelman even though the Associated Press story claims it was Wes Welker. He also returned a kickoff for 24 yards and made the tackle on the opening kickoff. I have a feeling this Edelman kid might stick around with the Patriots this season. The Patriots won the game 27-25. Welcome to the NFL Julian.

Dave Carducci at the Record Courier is reporting Kent State is expected to announce a home and home basketball series with South Florida which will bring the Bulls to the MAC Center in the 2010-2011 season and also bring former KSU coach Stan Heath back to Kent. Heath coached Kent State to the Elite 8 in his only season at the helm in the 2001-2002 season before leaving to become the head coach at Arkansas. Kent State has moved their game with Rochester College from December 8 to November 22 and added them to the field for the Hispanic College Fund Classic. Kent State will play at South Florida on November 25. Dave is also hearing that Kent State's game at Akron in Rhodes Arena to end the season will be broadcast on ESPN2. Stay tuned...

Kent State junior golfer John Hahn (Hudson) won the Western Amateur at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Illinois on Saturday. The Western Amateur was first played in 1899. The reigning MAC Player of the Year joins Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus and others as winners of the event.

The Kent State football team’s 2009 season will get under way on Friday evening when the Golden Flashes take the field for practice at Dix Stadium at 5P.M. Here are NewsFlashes’ five keys to a successful season in 2009

Steve Hare from the Kent Sports Report was the first to report today that athletic Chicago native Eric Gaines has verbally committed to play for the Golden Flashes men’s basketball program and become a part of the 2010 recruiting class. "I know one of the assistant coaches went to Hillcrest (former Flashes guard Armon Gates)," Gaines told KSR from an article back on July 16. "Also, they've won their conference a few times in the last few years." Playing at Hillcrest High School last season, Gaines averaged 13 points a game, three rebounds and three assists a game. Gaines reportedly had scholarship offers from Southern Methodist, Wright State, Illinois State, Eastern Illinois, DePaul and Western Illinois with several other schools showing interest. Gaines knows what he must improve on as he goes forward. "I need to get my jump shot going," Gaines said. "I need to get in the weight room and work on my jumper." Gaines joins forwards Kenny Knight from Cincinnati and Mark Henniger from Massillon Jackson in the 2010 recruiting class.